Espionage

News about Espionage, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Mar. 27, 2015

Both the Central Intelligence Agency and Federal Bureau of Intelligence are reorganizing in ways intended to boost status of analysts; shift, brought about by evolving threat of cyberattacks and other issues, presents thorny job of meshing worlds of streetwise agent and the brainy analyst. MORE

Mar. 23, 2015

Evacuation of 125 United States Special Operations advisers from Yemen strikes yet another blow to counterterrorism campaign in the Middle East; evacuation has compromised Yemen as site for training, advising and intelligence gathering, even as Al Qaeda's local affiliate continues to pose major threat; Central Intelligence Agency will maintain some covert agents in country. MORE

Mar. 22, 2015

American intelligence agencies have engaged in covert activity against Iranian nuclear program, even as Pres Obama's administration has been in negotiations about country's plans; administration officials rarely acknowledge degree to which covert activities have influenced Iranian decision to engage in negotiations; officials say that if agreement is reached, surveillance and covert action may become even more important. MORE

Feb. 28, 2015

British Prime Min David Cameron defends MI5, saying surveillance by intelligence service did not contribute to radicalization of Mohammed Emwazi, who has been identified as 'Jihadi John' of several Islamic State beheading videos; says MI5 has used good judgement in difficult situations and prevented terrorist attacks. MORE

Feb. 28, 2015

Michael Froman, United States trade representative, criticizes new rules issued by China governing banking technology, which US says are intended to strengthen domestic tech industry; statement is latest development in trade dispute that has complicated more typical concerns about protectionism with issue of national security and espionage. MORE

Feb. 27, 2015

British man Mohammed Emwazi is identified as masked Islamic State fighter called 'Jihadi John,' who presided over Islamic State beheading in 2014 video; Emwazi was living normal life as computer science student in London as recently as 2009, but came to attention of British intelligence services in May of that year; question of how Emwazi was radicalized, and whether British intelligence was at fault, has become subject of intense debate. MORE

Feb. 26, 2015

French-Dutch digital security company Gemalto says it believes American and British intelligence services hacked into company's networks over period of two years, beginning in 2010, in order to collect mobile phone records; report is based on records obtained by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. MORE

Feb. 26, 2015

Editorial examines implications of NSA document showing escalation of cyberattacks between United States and Iran, with the latter significantly stepping up its capabilities in recent years; calls for acceleration of international efforts to negotiate limits on the cyberarms race, which is presenting ever greater dangers to privacy and vital institutions. MORE

Feb. 23, 2015

Newly revealed National Security Agency document shows sharp increase in use of cyberweapons by United States and Iran against each other, both for espionage and sabotage. MORE

Feb. 17, 2015

Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab says United States has discovered method to permanently embed surveillance and sabotage tools in computers in countries like Iran, Russia, Pakistan and China; points out many of tools are designed to run on computers that are not connected to Internet, and lets US intelligence agencies unlock scrambled contents unnoticed. MORE

Feb. 13, 2015

Pres Obama will meet with nation's top tech firms at Stanford University to discuss array of cybersecutiry issues; meeting comes at time of deep estrangement between Washington and Silicon Valley, as Obama seeks to prevent companies from shoring up encryption on commercial products that will make it harder for government to crack systems. MORE

Feb. 12, 2015

Obama administration introduces vigorous plan to stem illegal wildlife trafficking that includes use of American intelligence agencies to track and target those profiting from the multi-billion-dollar business; plan will raise pressure on Asian nations to stop purchases and sales of rhinoceros horns, elephant ivory and other items. MORE

Feb. 10, 2015

South Korean appeals court sentences former intelligence chief Won Sei-hoon to 3 years in prison for using his office to smear rivals of Pres Park Geun-hye during 2012 election; Park, who has taken political hit for conviction, won by only 3.5 percent or 1 million votes. MORE

Feb. 6, 2015

Argentina's former spy chief Antonio Stiusso is asked to testify in inquiry into death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who was investigating 1994 bombing of Jewish center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people. MORE

Feb. 3, 2015

Obama administration announces rules that will require White House oversight of National Security Agency's surveillance of foreign leaders and will compel intelligence analysts to delete private information collected about Americans and foreigners that has no intelligence value. MORE

Jan. 31, 2015

Canadian Prime Min Stephen Harper announces expansion of spy service's powers, citing need for increased vigilance following attacks by radical Islamists; some legal experts have questioned constitutionality of bill, which allows courts to censor online postings and increases scope of police detentions. MORE

Jan. 29, 2015

Russian entrepreneur and former KGB member Andrei K Lugovoi calls claims that Russia engineered death of KGB whistle-blower Alexander V Litvinenko in 2006 'nonsense'; Litvinenko, spy for British agency M16, was poisoned with radioactive polonium 210; Lugovoi's remarks come during second day of investigation into Litvinenko's death. MORE

Jan. 28, 2015

British officials start public investigation of death of former KGB officer and Kremlin critic Alexander V Litvinenko, who died of radiation poisoning in 2006; lawyers for Litvinenko's widow say they plan to present evidence leading directly Russian Pres Vladimir V Putin and his ties to Russian Mafia. MORE

Jan. 28, 2015

Exposure of Russian spy ring in New York City brings up possibility of prisoner exchange with Russia; such swaps are rare in post-Cold War times, but one was made in 2010 after different spy ring was broken up. MORE

Jan. 27, 2015

Argentinian Pres Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner announces that she will ask Congress to dissolve Intelligence Secretariat so it can be replaced with new agency with curtailed surveillance powers; move is response to mysterious death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who was conducting inquiry into 1994 attack on Jewish center; Kirchner blames rogue elements within intelligence agency for impeding agreement with Iran to jointly investigate attack. MORE

Jan. 27, 2015

Evgeny Buryakov, Igor Sporyshev, and Victor Podobnyy are arrested on charges of serving as secret agents for Russia while working in New York; federal authorities believe that men were directed to collect intelligence on potential United States sanctions against Russian Federation and on US efforts to develop alternative energy resources. MORE

Jan. 23, 2015

Argentine Pres Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner abruptly reverses position and states she now believes prosecutor Alberto Nisman did not commit suicide, but that death was plot to sully her; Nisman had long implicated Iran in 1994 bombing of Jewish center but had only recently accused Kirchner and her aides of subverting his 10-year investigation into bombing, claim officials deny. MORE

Jan. 22, 2015

Secret negotiations for Argentina to receive oil from Iran in exchange for thwarting investigation into 1994 bombing of Jewish community center are confirmed in transcripts of telephone conversations between governments; deal did not go through, as Argentine officials could not get Interpol to lift arrest warrants on Iranian officials; transcripts are made public as part of part of criminal complaint filed by Alberto Nisman, special prosecutor investigating bombing, who was found dead night before he would have presented findings to Congress. MORE

Jan. 20, 2015

Newly disclosed classified document shows that British intelligence services intercepted email messages to journalists for at least dozen international media organizations at end of 2008, as well as emails sent to United Nations officials and thousands of other people; document is part of trove leaked by Edward J Snowden. MORE

Jan. 17, 2015

Saturday Profile of Rahmatullah Nabil, Afghanistan’s spy chief, whose reputation as being too soft for the job belies his many achievements. MORE

Jan. 10, 2015

Andrew Parker, director general of Britain's MI5, demands greater authority to fight threat of Islamist extremism; says militants are planning attacks in Britain like one that killed 12 people at satirical newspaper in Paris; holds that debate on security and its challenge to privacy will sharpen in Western countries. MORE

Jan. 6, 2015

Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem's admission that group was infiltrated by Israeli spies is seen as confirmation that senior operative Mohammad Shawraba told Israel of attacks, which were then thwarted; infiltration suggests Hezbollah may be distracted by its efforts to support Syrian Pres Bashar al-Assad and that absence of attacks on Israel have not been for lack of trying. MORE

Jan. 1, 2015

Rolando Sarraff Trujillo, intelligence officer freed in prisoner exchange with Cuba, has not contacted his family since being released and his whereabouts are unknown; lengthy debriefing process is common in cases such as his; American officials say he is not being held captive and that he is free to make phone calls. MORE

Dec. 27, 2014

Senate Intelligence Committee's report on Central Intelligence Agency excesses since the Sept 11 terrorist attacks is unlikely to result in any significant change in how the CIA fits into the operations of America's secret wars; Congressional, White House and public support for clandestine operations are all strong in an era of deep fears over global terrorism and the rise of the brutal Islamic State. MORE

Dec. 22, 2014

New York Times investigation reveals that American, British and Indian intelligence agencies failed to coordinate data that could have prevented 2008 Mumbai attacks that claimed 166 lives; Indian and British agents had been monitoring suspicious online activity of Zarrar Shah, technology chief of terrorist group Lakshar-e Taibia, but declined to act, despite series of warnings about plot from America. MORE

Dec. 19, 2014

Rolando Sarraff Trujillo, who was released from Cuban prison after nearly 20 years as part of Cuban prisoner exchange, gave important code information to Central Intelligence Agency to help detect spies; while his work for the CIA is still classified, his clandestine operations helped agency long after he was arrested. MORE

Dec. 18, 2014

United States frees Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero and Ramon Labanino, remaining three members of Cuban Five spy ring serving long prison sentences; ring was uncovered in South Florida in 1998 and all five were convicted in 2001; two other members had already returned to Cuba after serving out sentences MORE

Dec. 12, 2014

Dec. 6, 2014

British court overseeing intelligence agencies rules that electronic mass surveillance of people's online communications and cellphones is legal, like Prism program revealed by Edward Snowden; Amnesty International and other privacy rights, which brought on complaint, say they will appeal at European Court of Human rights, as Internet privacy rights are generally given greater protection on Continent. MORE

Dec. 4, 2014

United States calls on Cuba to release 65-year-old American government contractor Alan P Gross, who has been imprisoned on espionage charges since 2009; rejects idea of prisoner swap, saying Gross is not spy; relatives say Gross is declining and becoming suicidal over lack of progress in his case. MORE

Nov. 9, 2014

Thomas L Friedman Op-Ed column underscores geopolitical struggle happening on the Internet that centers on encryption of data services; notes that groups like Islamic State have used the Internet for recruitment and organization; calls on social networking companies and intelligence agencies to work together to enable people to innovate while preventing militant groups from becoming ever more powerful and difficult to track. MORE

Nov. 9, 2014

Unusual origins and long-running nature of relationship between United States and Sunni terrorist group Jundullah are emblematic of vast expansion of intelligence operations since terrorist attacks of Sept 11, 2001; relationship with group stemmed from Thomas McHale, detective with Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and member of FBI counterterrorism task force, who had developed informants within the organization. MORE

Nov. 8, 2014

Federal Bureau of Investigation counterintelligence agents are investigating veteran American diplomat Robin L Raphel on suspicion that she took classified information home from the State Dept; Raphel is a retired ambassador and expert on Pakistan, who until recently was an adviser to State Dept. MORE

Nov. 7, 2014

Confidential documents released by Britain’s domestic intelligence service reveal that British spies have authority to intercept privileged communications between lawyers and their clients, and may have illegally exploited that access. MORE

Nov. 5, 2014

Robert Hannigan, newly appointed director of Britain's electronic intelligence agency, castigates American internet companies for inadvertently providing terrorists with communication networks, and charges them to strike a better balance between privacy and security; comments are most virulent amid campaign by intelligence community against pressure to rein in their digital surveillance. MORE

Nov. 3, 2014

Chinese Pres Xi Jinping signs law with updated set of rules that will more closely target foreign spies and Chinese individuals and organizations who collaborate with them. MORE

Nov. 3, 2014

Editorial urges Pres Obama to swap Alan Gross, American government subcontractor imprisoned in Cuba, with three convicted Cuban spies who have served more than 16 years in federal prison; contends case meets criteria of exceptional circumstances; maintains prisoner swap would pave way for new bilateral relationship (Series: Cuba: A New Start). MORE

Nov. 1, 2014

Spying allegation against Romanian presidential candidate Prime Min Victor Ponta conjures past Romanian political culture clogged with accusations and counteraccusations of undercover skulduggery; revolution that toppled Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989 ended paranoid dystopia in which one in every 30 Romanians worked as an informer for ruthless security agency Securitate. MORE

Nov. 1, 2014

Michael McFaul, who finished his tour as President Obama’s envoy in Moscow in February, says he was constantly followed, harassed and demonized on state television and was shadowed wherever he went; says he believes the Russian agents are still tapping his telephone as well as that of his wife. MORE

Oct. 29, 2014

South Korean court convicts two counterintelligence officials for fabricating Chinese government documents to build a spy case against a refugee from North Korea; conviction is latest blow to the image of country's National Intelligence Service. MORE

Oct. 29, 2014

Researchers at computer security firm FireEye say that hackers working for Russian government have for seven years been using sophisticated techniques to break into computer networks around the world. MORE

Oct. 27, 2014

Newly disclosed records and interviews reveal that CIA and other United States agencies employed at least a thousand Nazis as Cold War spies and informants; law enforcement and intelligence leaders felt that ex-Nazis' intelligence value against Russians outweighed so-called 'moral lapses' in their service to Third Reich; records also show that government worked to conceal its ties to ex-Nazis working in America as recently as 1990s. MORE

Oct. 15, 2014

David Greenglass, whose testimony against his sister Ethel Rosenberg and her husband Julius in 1951 spy trial helped send them to the electric chair, dies at age 92; Greenglass later admitted that he lied on witness stand to save his wife from prosecution. MORE

Oct. 7, 2014

Exhibition Love-Conscience-Conviction: The Rosenberg Case, opening in Boston, includes newly released letters and other documents from Julius and Ethel Rosenberg related to affair that once riveted nation and stoked Cold War fears that Soviet Union had stolen America’s atomic weapons secrets. MORE

The evacuation of Special Operations advisers from Yemen is the latest blow to the Obama administration’s counterterrorism campaign, which is already struggling with significant setbacks in the region, officials said.

A number of officials make the case that, if a deal is reached, surveillance of Iran will intensify and covert action may become more important to ensure that Iran does not import critical materials or pursue a covert path to a bomb.